What's disheartening about that NYDN link is not the eminently predictable declaration by a leading Muslim cleric that he's found yet another group of infidels that "does not deserve life" and who should be murdered because their "proper abode is hellfire". It's the results of the poll accompanying the story that disappoint:

Poll Results

A radical cleric has called for the execution of a U.S. cartoonist after she launched a project called "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day." Do you support the cartoonist's lampoon?

Yes. She was making a statement protected under the First Ammendment [sic]. That's her job. 41%

No. She knew Islam forbids drawing the likeness of Mohammed. This is insulting, not fun. 49%

* If the 'partiers didn't have severe mental and emotional issues, they could really take it to the anti-American, pro-abuse takeourjobs.org. They'd also do a great public service. Of course, that would require them to want to do a great public service and it would require them to be more intelligent than lichen, so forget it.

* No matter how many times I've watched this, I can't stop laughing: Rand Paul says the tea parties are "mainstream". The joke isn't just in the fact that he said it, it's in what happens right as he says it. If they're choreographed that they couldn't have done it better.

It was just last month that the Supreme Court affirmed the U.S. law prohibiting material support of foreign terrorist groups.

So why are John Hagee & Co sending money to Israeli pseudo-terrorist groups in the West Bank, with our government not only sitting by and doing nothing, but encouraging that material support by making contributions tax-exempt?

In this interview, Hitchens was asked what he makes of Obama's presidency. His answer:

It's quite clean. The people working for him are relatively straight and honest. But what he's finding out is that the power of the presidency is very slight. There are all kinds of things that are just not under his control.

Hitchens is probably the last person in America to not have a dramatic opinion about Obama! Reading da blogies, it seems that everyone else is either a kool-aid-drinking Kosbot or an angry gun-wielding participant in the upcoming Tea Party Revolution.

Dead Julius, I dont think Ann has a dramatic opinion of Obama ... even under the pressure of her beloved husband.

And the only thing Hitchens seems to have dramatic opinions on have to do with 'Islamofascism' (his word). And I loved that Guardian piece on him that linked this obsession to his father's influence on his understanding of a noble life.

Read an interesting observation elsewhere. Washington Monthly, I think. They point out that Fox News was after a) ACORN and now b) New Black Panther Party.

What do these two groups have in common? Groups with high involvement by racial minorities (African Americans). FoxNews and the Right have no problem with the "Minutemen" packing heat to polling places and harassing Latino voters, for example.

"We felt the time had come to stand up and say, 'It's time for the tea party to be responsible members of this democracy and make sure they don't tolerate bigots or bigotry among their members,'" NAACP President Ben Jealous said ahead of the debate. "We don't have a problem with the tea party's existence. We have an issue with their acceptance and welcoming of white supremacists into their organizations."

Fuzzy Cafe has about gone to seed. The seeds will become the new life next spring. Now let's watch the All Star Game. I notice that the Yankees owner hit a home run on the Estate Tax by passing on before his heirs would have lost $500,000,000 in taxes come new years day.

Ah, yes, Egypt... where the white light of the sun makes it hot and oppressive, and the Nile floods make the soil black and fertile.

The two combine together to create a land of extremes.

You know, the Scorpian King of Egypt was the first to unite the two kingdoms and become the first Pharaoh, right around 5125 years ago. The Mayan calendar that leads to the 2012 predictions is based on a 5125 year cycle.

A race based organization calling you racist is a bit weak in 2010. But, then again, what else are they gonna do; meet with some Tea Partiers and try to find some common ground? Too late for that now. Opportunity lost again to be useful. Venting is such a tradition.

Read an interesting observation elsewhere. Washington Monthly, I think. They point out that Fox News was after a) ACORN and now b) New Black Panther Party.

What do these two groups have in common? Groups with high involvement by racial minorities (African Americans). FoxNews and the Right have no problem with the "Minutemen" packing heat to polling places and harassing Latino voters, for example.

What do ACORN and the New Black Panthers have in common? Corrupt, hard-core Leftist, violent, vote fraud artists.

The minutemen Alpha is talking about is a local, San Diego only group. He lies again.

PS The national Minutemen organization isn't threatening to kill people, nor have they beaten up anyone (remember Kenneth Gladney?).

The topic is the pending "financial reform" bill. The discussion, which includes legislation sponsor Barney Frank, centers on the fact that the bill will create a whole bunch of new regulations and subject whole new classes of companies to those regulations.

But what are the specifics? What, exactly, are the new regulations? Which companies, specifically, will be subject to them?

Well, that's all left to the discretion of the regulatory agencies. They will decide. If you have lots of money and/or power and/or connections, you will be able to affect the agencies' determination; if not, you are out of luck.

And this is precisely the big historical change that's going on with America right now: Lots of new regulation accompanied by lots of discretion. It's happening all over-- not just in the financial arena. The Arizona immigration case is another example-- the federal government wants to maintain its discretion to enforce immigration law, or not enforce it, as it sees fit.

This naturally accumulates power in those who are able to exercise discretion. Better kow-tow to them or they will make your life miserable and your business impossibly difficult! It's not Marxism; it's Technocratism. And it's scary.

Money quote from Barney Frank:

"In democracies, there are no guarantees."

The law is supposed to be that guarantee, but that's being undermined now.

When someone invites you to one of those multilevel marketing "parties," what do you say?"If you hadn't warned me what kind of party it was, I'd have kicked your teeth in." Said with a big smile, of course.

It was just last month that the Supreme Court affirmed the U.S. law prohibiting material support of foreign terrorist groups.

So why are John Hagee & Co sending money to Israeli pseudo-terrorist groups in the West Bank, with our government not only sitting by and doing nothing, but encouraging that material support by making contributions tax-exempt?

Because "pseudo-terrorist group" is a label you invented, and does not designate a group as being covered by the law you mentioned in your first sentence. Hell, almost the entirety of Palestine is a pseudo-terrorist group if you want to label Hagee that way. :)

In any case, Hitchens is playing fast and loose with the truth. He states that $200 million goes to settlements without telling you whether it goes to the established settlements or to the new ones, the latter being the ones that are illegal under Israeli law. He adds in the weaselly accusation that "many" supporters of the settlements are linked to extremist and/or violent groups. What's "many" in real numbers?

"When someone invites you to one of those multilevel marketing "parties," what do you say?"

Ugh. Some friend that turned out to be. My daughter was invited to a baby shower that was actually a Tupperware party. Lotsa pressure by momma-to-be to buy so she got some prize. My daughter has barely enough money to pay the rent, much less buy a baby present and plastic tubs. Sheesh.